Is Chicago really that corrupt? Yes

Ald. Willie Cochran, 20th, is charged with 11 counts of wire fraud, two counts of extortion and two counts of bribery, the most serious of which carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison if convicted.

Troutman was talking about the politics of Chicago, which is, if you've forgotten, the political corruption capital of the United States.

Troutman represented the South Side's 20th Ward. At her 2009 sentencing, she squirted a few tears, sobbed, prayed, begged and then got four years in federal prison anyway.

And on Wednesday her replacement, Ald. Willie Cochran, a former Chicago police officer who campaigned as something of a corruption buster, was himself indicted on federal corruption charges.

His alleged crimes? That he looted a charity fund for seniors and shook down a developer for bribes and squeezed a liquor store owner while spending the money on gambling and a little on college tuition for his child.

Cochran was at the Chicago City Council meeting when the Tribune broke the news online, and before he left the room, Ald. Edward Burke, the white-haired dean of the council, whispered something in his ear.

Willie Cochran was running for 20th Ward alderman as a political unknown a decade ago when he vowed to steer clear of the graft and corruption that had ensnared so many Chicago politicians over the years.

"Most people in the ward are tired of our public officials being embroiled in one controversy...

Willie Cochran was running for 20th Ward alderman as a political unknown a decade ago when he vowed to steer clear of the graft and corruption that had ensnared so many Chicago politicians over the years.

"Most people in the ward are tired of our public officials being embroiled in one controversy...

(Jason Meisner, Jeremy Gorner and Hal Dardick)

I don't really want to know what Burke said, because I'd rather imagine him whispering something philosophical, like:

"Willie? Just remember that in politics, there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests."

If Cochran is pronounced guilty, he would be the 30th alderman convicted of crimes related to his or her official duties since 1972.

Not all Chicago politicians are corrupt. I know a few you might trust with the Sunday collection plate or your kid's lunch money. Members of the Progressive Caucus of the Chicago City Council come to mind.

Yet even reformers go away, like Lawrence Bloom, Hyde Park's former alderman, the face of good government who got caught up in a federal sting.

So in corrupt Chicago — did I mention it's the city that has earned the title Corruption Capital of America? — we've had scores of aldermen indicted since the 1970s, and some more than once.

They keep sprouting, like eyes on a potato in your pantry, or a bloodthirsty many-headed hydra if you're into mythology.

"They keep going to prison because they keep breaking the law and they don't think they'll ever get caught at it," said former reform Ald. Dick Simpson, now a professor who studies political corruption at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

With Thomas Gradel, Dick Simpson has written many studies of corruption and books, including "Corrupt Illinois, Patronage, Cronyism, and Criminality."

"They always think someone else will go but not them," Simpson said of corrupt aldermen. "But let's say only 1 in 10 are caught. Some never get caught. Many bribes take place between two parties."

Chicago has fathers indicted and years later sons indicted for the same crimes; the Carothers family comes to mind. A few died between indictment and prison.

And we've had a city clerk, Walter Kozubowski, indicted on Ash Wednesday.

I remember the ashes were still on Kozubowski's forehead when the news came to him that he'd been indicted.

He seemed troubled yet silent, and I figured he didn't want to comment so that he'd have a perfect, sinless day. But later, he said his federal goodbyes, too, as did his replacement, Jim Laski, also convicted of corruption charges.

We've had state and Cook County officials convicted, and inspectors and cops, patronage workers and patronage bosses, and, naturally, state lawmakers.

Oh, and governors. Yes, corrupt Illinois governors we've had plenty. Four governors have gone to prison.

Illinois' top employer isn't manufacturing. It's government, layers and layers of it, and that means many political mouths to fill.

"We had two governors in prison at the same time, remember?" Simpson said. "Gov. George Ryan, Republican, Gov. Rod Blagojevich, Democrat, in prison at the same time."

Yet with all that, with all the governors and state legislators and lowly inspectors and judges — I apologize for forgetting all the corrupt Cook County judges — there is one group that hasn't been touched by indictments.

In a sci-fi movie this would be called "an anomaly," but in Chicago it's called "What are you, a troublemaker?"

Perhaps, as I've long theorized, the fifth floor of City Hall is magically corruption-free, rather like the beautiful green Shire in "Lord of the Rings," where the gentle, hairy-footed Hobbits live on in fantasy.

Or maybe the fifth floor is like Finland, considered by the Corruption Perceptions Index as one of the least corrupt nations in the world.

But Chicago? We've been corrupted since the first traders gave cheap whiskey to the Indians to cheat them out of their furs.

So, is it actually believable that governors go away but never a Chicago mayor because Chicago mayors are incapable of corruption?

"Some mayors have not been corrupt," Simpson said, and I'd agree.

But certainly some past mayors have been corrupt?

"Mayors don't usually directly get involved in taking bribes like aldermen. And there are many more layers between them and corruption."

Buffers. I get it. They have buffers, professor.

And Cochran?

Most aldermen don't have buffers. They're not multimillionaire politicians with layers of protection. The dumb ones are low-hanging fruit. And Cochran's been plucked.